One perk of enrolling in the IB (International Baccalaureate) program at school is the invitation to inclusive field trips. Everyone participating in an IB class planning a field trip(s) will be sent a confirmation for your parent’s approval. After that, the bus rides begin and you’re in for a ride!

One IB class in particular with multiple field trip opportunities is IB literature HL2. It’s a fantastic, faster pace English class that can also provide college credit if completed correctly. HL stands for it being a two-year class and the 2 means the second year of the class (seniors can only be in the class after completing HL1 junior year). If you don’t feel challenged in normal English or are an English professional, definitely don’t hesitate to join the class. Typically there are lots of group-based discussions and interactive activities

Going back to the field trip part of the class, this year IB got to travel to the Ventura Pier on October 3 to connect it back to their studies. While at the pier students were assigned two short assignments about the book they read, The Awakening by Kate Chopin. One assignment is a partner portion and the other a group assignment. The partner work required three photos to be taken somewhere around the beach with a small paragraph written about each. An important part of the class is using literary terms, so using the first paragraph students used diction to form specific ideas with the words chosen. After that, the second paragraph is written exactly the same, but the words representing diction would be switched. This is to see how words affect the tone or mood of a piece of literature. Once completed duos combined into a group of four to draw a symbol from the book in the sand. Symbolism is an important lit term as it can show an author’s deeper meaning throughout a piece by using a repeating symbol. In The Awakening one major symbol was water and the beach. Although the assignments sound awful, they were pretty simple and fast. Senior Shya Samadani said, “I personally liked the IB beach trip, but not the restrictions on where we could and couldn’t go.” After, students were allowed to cruise the beach and pier up to a certain proximity. Samadani also mentioned, “It was a great bonding time and I would do it again outside of school!” Additionally, students chose to get food from Beach House Tacos right on the pier. They serve different kinds of Mexican food including various kinds of tacos, burritos, popsicles, and chips with salsa. 

About two weeks later on October 13, the class attended the play, Electricidad, performed by the Moorpark theater program. This performance was very thought out and creative in all parts. The material itself was a spin-off of the Sophocles tragedy, Electra. Angel Ventura, senior, said, “I love how it was a serious play with some comedic twist.” The college students used a well-known play and created a more relatable, cultural performance out of it. They used the same storyline and characters of the original but preached it through a Los Angeles barrios perspective. The basic plot is the father (Agamemnon) sacrifices one of his daughters, the mother (Clytemnestra) kills the father over this, and the other daughter (Electra) wants to seek vengeance over the mother, so she has the brother (Orestes) kill her. The theater students formed two different casts for the same play. This is in case the need for an understudy took place and also so more students get to be involved. They juggle this aspect fairly by switching off casts depending on the day. The set was insanely impressive from the graffiti to the house built on stage. Costumes and props really pulled all this together revealing the character’s true personalities deeper. Even the grave of the father was set for the scene perfectly and at one point “caught on fire” as a part of the action. As if the beautiful set didn’t expose where this intentionally tweaked play revolved, the characters played their roles perfectly as a backup. The emotions and personalities of the characters made the play so exciting, funny, and interesting to watch. “I’m glad that there was Hispanic representation, especially a certain part of the culture that typically isn’t represented in the media,” said Ventura.  It was about an hour and a half run time and was followed by a Q&A from the production team and actors. Ventura stated, “Overall, I love the play and it made me want to go watch more plays at Moorpark College.”